|
Since the topic of organ registration is so important for many organists (I get questions about it from my readers every week), I decided to share with you 32 tips which will help you register your organ pieces.
1) For Baroque free works,use Organo Pleno (full principal chorus with mixtures). 2) For canzonas, Flutes 4' with or without 2' work well. 3) For the solo voice in ornamented chorale preludes, use Cornet, solo reeds, such as Oboe, Krummhorn, Vox Humana, combinations with mutations with or without the tremulant. 4) For accompanying voices, use 8' with or without 4'. 5) For cantus firmus in the tenor, Trompette 8' works well. 6) For cantus firmus in the tenor played by the pedals don't use 16'. 7) For cantus firmus in the alto or soprano in the pedals use 4' or 2' solo stop. 8) For French Classical Grand Jeux, don't use mixtures. 9) For French Classical Plain Jeux, use the reeds only in the pedals (8' stops). 10) In order to build a Cornet registration, use Flutes 8', 4', 2 2/3', 2', 1 3/5'. 11) Use Cornet registration only in the right side of the keyboard. 12) Don't use German Vox Humana in the French Voix Humaine registration. 13) Don't double the stops at the same pitch level on instruments with flexible winding system. 14) Use 16' in the manual with low mixtures (based on 4', for example). 15) Use higher mixtures (Scharf) with low mixtures in Organ Pleno pieces (if available). 16) Use 16' reed in the manual bass part, if the tenor is played by the pedals. 17) For Plain Jeux, use Principals and Mixtures in the manual (with 16'). 18) For Grand Jeux, use Flutes, Reeds, and Cornets (no 16'). 19) Use 2 stops at 8' pitch level in the pedals on some modern organs to imitate French Classical pedal Flute. 20) Avoid 32' pedal stops in pieces with faster moving pedal part. 21) If there is no French Voix Humaine on your organ, try Flute 8', Nassard and a tremulant. 22) Although some Baroque organs had tierce mixtures, adding tierce stops manually to the Organo Pleno sound doesn't always work. 23) For French Toccata, you can play the manual part one octave lower (if the lowest note is tenor C or higher) on some modern organs which lack foundational stops at 16' and 8' pitch level and have high-pitched mixtures. 24) If you are playing one octave lower with your hands, don't use 16' stops in the manual. 25) Don't change the stops within the piece unless there is a reason to do it. 26) In hymn-playing, sometimes you can add 16' stop for the tune in the soprano part played by the right hand (Dutch tradition). 27) Use manual couplers with care in mechanical action organs with electric couplers. 28) When all parts seem to be equally important in the piece, play them on one manual. 29) When one part is more important than the others, solo it out on another manual. 30) In French Classical fugues, usually the right hand plays with Cornet and the left hand - with Crommorne. 31) In French Classical fugues, don't use 16' in the pedals. 32) Always use your ear as the determining factor for registration. By the way, do you want to learn my special powerful techniques which help me to master any piece of organ music up to 10 times faster? If so, download my organ practice guide "How to Master Any Organ Composition". Although organ repertoire is vast and spans for about 7 centuries, it is not always easy to find pieces that you both like and are able to learn. In fact, this wealth of pieces available is precisely what makes it so difficult to choose. Sometimes you think you found a beautiful organ composition but when you try to play it, you will simply discover that it is beyond your technical abilities.
So in order to advance and perfect your skills, the pieces should work for your level. In this article, I will share with you my personal recommendations on finding organ music that would be suitable and playable for you. The best way to go about finding out if the piece is playable for you at the moment is to look at the two determining factors which are tempo and texture. 1. Tempo. Open a score of the organ piece that you like and play the first several lines at the half speed. In other words, you should perform them much slower than at the concert tempo. The reason for this is to see how many mistakes did you make in each line. If you make more than 3 mistakes in each line while playing very slowly, then it means this piece is too difficult for you today. In order to avoid unnecessary frustration and speed up the learning process, pick an easier organ composition. 2. Texture. Another test you could make if you want to discover whether or not the difficulty level of the piece matches your abilities, concerns the texture. If the piece has 4 voices or parts, reduce the texture to one simple voice and try to play it at the concert tempo. Again, if you make more than 3 mistakes in each line, then this composition is too advanced for your current level. The reason for playing at the real tempo here is because now you have to play only one voice. So reducing the speed as well as the texture would give you unrealistic environment. I believe you could stil master the piece but it would take much more time. Many people might feel that their progress is too slow and get frustrated. Again, in order to feel better about your organ practice, I recommend choosing an easier piece to learn right now. By the way, do you want to learn my special powerful techniques which help me to master any piece of organ music up to 10 times faster? If so, download my organ practice guide "How to Master Any Organ Composition". Sight-reading is one of the areas for organists that they should be spending more time on. Practicing regularly playing unfamiliar organ music systematically with time produces incredible results. However, a lot of people struggle to advance in sight-reading and see the results they want fast. In this article, I will share with you how to develop adequate sight-reading skills at the organ.
1) Practice regularly. If there is one rule for sight-reading, this is it - the more you do it, the better you will become. However, it's not good to practice rarely but in huge time chunks, like 5 or more hours. Instead, it's much better to spend 15-30 minutes a day with sight-reading but do it every day. 2) The level of difficulty. The pieces should be much easier than what you can play currently. For example, if you can practice and master a 3-voice piece in a month, then your sight-reading pieces should not have more than 2 voices at present. In fact, it's better to start so simple, like with 1 voice that you should feel enjoyment and think that it's too easy. 3) Practice tempo. Normally it is very good if you can practice very slowly. But if the texture is very easy and you can do it at a concert speed without mistakes - then it's even better. However, always be aware of how many mistakes you are making and try to eliminate them. 4) Number of voices. It is best to start your sight-reading practice with something simple and easy. This means playing one melodic line at a time. From your polyphonic organ piece choose the soprano alone, then the alto, the tenor and the bass in the same manner. When this practice becomes easy, add a second and a third voice etc. Do this repeatedly for some time and eventually you will be able to sight-read all 4 parts with fluency and ease. Apply these tips in your sight-reading routine regularly and you will develop adequate sight-reading skills at the organ. By the way, do you want to learn my special powerful techniques which help me to master any piece of organ music up to 10 times faster? If so, download my Organ Practice Guide. Although organ improvisation is a very fascinating subject to study for a lot of organists, it is not easy to constantly see the desired improvement and advancement. On the way to perfecting their skills, many people have to face certain difficulties, such as lack of direction, being lost in this process, or inability to achieve the results. In this article, I will share with you tips how it is best to overcome these challenges which may be holding you back in organ improvisation.
1. Lack of direction. A lot of times people who just start improvising on the organ, have lots of wishes, and a lack of proper direction. They want to become very good improvisers in many styles. In reality it doesn't work this way. The more you can improve your focus, and simply work on a certain style or genre for a while, the better chances you have to succeed. When you feel fluent in one style or genre, you can easily begin to explore additional styles or genres. So it is important to stay focused at only one goal at a time. Taking your daily baby steps towards this goal will increase your chances for success. 2. Being lost in this process. Many people don't know where to start when it comes to organ improvisation. There are so many method books and treatises and every one of them requires at least some knowledge in music theory. So it is very difficult to improvise well if you don't know basic concepts of music theory, harmony, and basic elements which constitute a musical piece. If you want to learn to improvise on the organ, it is inevitable that at some point or another you will understand the necessity to learn music theory, harmony, and musical analysis. It is better to start this study sooner than later. 3. Inability to achieve the results. It may happen that no matter how hard you are trying to improve, no matter how focused you are, you are still not getting your results. Or perhaps the results are so small that when you start to think about your long-term goal, you may be thinking that it will take many years to achieve it. This might be very frustrating. It may mean, that you are practicing incorrectly. You see, improvising on the organ is no different that learning to play a written down composition. The only difference is that you have to think and compose while you play. But you should still apply the same practice principles as if you would be playing a real organ piece - slow tempo, practice in fragments, voice combinations, aiming on improving your technique and doing repeatedly over and over again. Think about these tips and apply them in your improvisation practice. You may be surprised how fast your improvement will be if you remember your goal, deepen your knowledge of music theory, and constantly take incremental baby steps. If you need help in practicing organ improvisation, check out my free improvisation mini course. Ear Training for Organists: Overcoming Difficulties When Recognizing Scales, Intervals, and Chords4/18/2013 In this article, I will share with you some of the most efficient ways you can teach yourself to recognize various elements of musical language, namely modes or scales, intervals, and chords which are all part of ear training.
The reason you should take aside some time regularly for ear training is not only because then you will develop perfect pitch but also become a more complete musician. Then you will be able not only to perform your organ music but also understand how the piece is put together which will enhance greatly your and your listener's appreciation of the pieces your play. However, it is not easy to recognize intervals, modes, or chords, if you are not following step-by-step systematic approach. Many people simply get overwhelmed, frustrated, and quit their ear training because of that and even start to question whether or not this skill is practical and useful. So it is even more important to overcome these obstacles and here is how to do it in 4 simple steps. 1) Play. The first step to take is to play these musical elements on the keyboard. Simply choose a scale, an interval, or a chord and play it from any of the 7 diatonic notes and later from the 5 chromatic notes. 2) Listen. After playing becomes easy, ask somebody to play the elements for you and try to recognize them. In order to make this step easier you could also record yourself playing scales, intervals, and chords from Step 1 and play them back using any device you have at hand. 3) Write. If you feel that you can recognize these elements most of the time correctly, try to write them yourself on a stave with pencil. Again, follow the order from Step 1 - first write from diatonic notes and later from chromatic notes. 4) Sing. The last step in mastering scales, intervals, and chords is to simply sing them. Now that you have done the previous 3 steps, singing should be just a little more difficult. Be very systematic about it and don't stop the exercise until you can do it at least 3 times in a row correctly and in tune. By the way, do you want to learn my special powerful techniques which help me to master any piece of organ music up to 10 times faster? If so, download my Organ Practice Guide. In this article, I will share with you some of the most common difficulties people face when they start playing the organ without the help of scores. The reason they face these problems is because often they don't know the most easiest and efficient way to memorize music and hold it in their long-term memory. It's important to be aware of these difficulties and overcome them if you want to become a successful organist.
1) Organists feel a tremendous amount of fear when playing without scores. This is especially so true when they play in a public setting, such as an organ recital or a church service. A person can feel very insecure and frustrated because he/she may experience a real memory loss at any given moment during the performance. 2) When learning to play from memory this process can be very frustrating because no matter how hard you are trying to memorize, no matter how long you play, you still can't play your piece without score fluently, if you are not doing it systematically step by step. 3) Very often people try to memorize a piece of organ music playing it over and over again. This practice is too complex because the piece itself can be quite long and no matter how many times you repeat this material, you may be forgetting many important details. 4) Incorrect practicing tempo can be a deciding factor whether or not your memorization efforts will be successful. You see, if you play the piece too fast, then you will not be able to use your mind at the same speed as your fingers or feet. On the contrary - when memorizing, your mind always goes ahead of fingers and feet. 5) Playing the entire polyphonic texture at once and trying to commit it all to memory is also too challenging. In pieces, such as fugues, chorale preludes or fantasias of the Baroque period every voice is quite independent. Therefore, sometimes it helps to memorize separate voices and their combinations first. 6) Trying to memorize a piece of organ music before actually learning to play it is not a good idea, either. Memorization is one of the last steps you should take towards a complete mastery, not the first. 7) Forgetting previously memorized fragments is often a huge difficulty some organists have to overcome. Let's say you are learning some new fragment every day which of course is a very good idea. However, you should also systematically repeat the episodes and fragments that you memorized the day before and earlier. By the way, do you want to learn my special powerful techniques which help me to memorize any piece of organ music up to 10 times faster? If so, download my video Organ Practice Guide. Have you noticed that playing left hand part on the organ in many cases is much more difficult than the right hand part? Or when you try to play a two-part combination of left hand and pedals, usually you make many more mistakes than in playing right-hand and pedals?
There are a couple of reasons why you find these problems: 1) Many people are right-handed and naturally they use their right hand more frequently than the left which in turn just makes the left hand under-developed. 2) A lot of people start playing the organ after having some experience with the piano. On the piano, the left hand takes the bottom stave while on the organ you have to train your left hand (and the brain) to play the middle stave. So how do you strengthen your left hand technique? There are a couple of useful things to remember here: 1) You can practice special left hand exercises, scales, and arpeggios regularly. Over time this will help to make your left hand technique more developed. The goal here is to reach the same level of dexterity and independence with the left hand as with your right. 2) As you practice your organ compositions, remember to play the left hand part (and left hand and pedals combination) many more times than with the right hand. For example, if you normally play an episode with right hand 10 times, than play it 20 times with the left hand. The same is for left and pedals combination. 3) I have noticed that some organists play hymns this way: soprano and alto is played by the right hand, tenor and bass is played by the left hand. At the same time, the pedals double the bass. I hope you are not playing this way because it greatly slows down the development of left hand and pedal independence - left hand has to learn to play different melodic lines than the feet. Do you want to make your left hand as strong as the right hand? Then start applying these tips in your practice today. It will not be long before you start seeing some tremendous changes in your technique. By the way, do you want to learn my special powerful techniques which help me to master any piece of organ music up to 10 times faster? If so, download my video Organ Practice Guide. |
 DON'T MISS A THING! FREE UPDATES BY EMAIL.
 Photo by Edgaras Kurauskas
Authors
Drs. Vidas Pinkevicius and Ausra Motuzaite-Pinkeviciene Organists of Vilnius University , creators of Secrets of Organ Playing. 
Our Hauptwerk Setup:
Don't have an organ at home? No problem - print out our paper organ manuals and pedals and start practicing today!
Categories
All
Archives
November 2025
|
RSS Feed